Thursday, February 13, 2014

Sam Storms on Word and Spirit (and Other Tensions) in the Christian Life

Sam Storms is known, among other things, for teaching that the Word and Spirit should converge in the church and Christian life. Below is a chart in which he contrasts numerous points of emphasis within two streams of evangelical Christianity.

Storms has published this chart in several places where it can be viewed in its greater context, including his website and his 2005 book, Convergence: Spiritual Journeys of a Charismatic Calvinist (111-113). (In that book, he qualifies that items in the chart are envisioned as tendencies rather than rigid categories, and that none of these observations are intended to judge one side or the other [111, 117].)

Some of the points below are topics of debate since they relate directly to the
issue of whether or not certain gifts of the Holy Spirit continue today. I find that other items in the chart, while salient to that specific discussion,
also represent points of healthy tension in Christian theology and
experience in general.

* * *

Word (Cessationist)

Spirit (Continuationist)

Centrality of Sermon

Centrality of Worship

Predictability

Spontaneity

Principles

Power

Prizes knowledge

Prizes experience

Focus on the Intellect

Focus on the Affections

The Bible: emphasis on meaning

Expectation of what God will do/say; focus on future purposes (pursue them)